Carystus, the son of JUST READ IT, PLEASE!
by Percy.Lover.Jason.Hater
Summary: this is about Carystus, the son of... someone...   Anyhow, it all starts when a rumour is spread that Chiron has a son at camp...and you can guess what happens next.There is a jason in this, but he obviously isn't the jason i hate.otherwise he'd be dead
1. I am an immortal son

**Okay, so this is the story that I'm probably having the most fun writing. Please review. If you want to flame, please don't. I love suggestions! Also I'm probably not going to write any more of these bold thingy's in the other chapters.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Also 100% copyright. The entire story will probably be rather slightly based from the beginning of the Titans Curse to the end of either TLO or TLH or TSN. So, um, like, enjoy. :))**

You know what I don't recommend if you are a demigod? Going on a monster hunting mission with Clarisse. Especially if you promised a certain four-thousand-year-old centaur that you wouldn't use a certain rhyming spells that your he decided to hand over through an Iris message, but you did it anyway. Great way to become her best friend, right? Yeah! Of course it's right! – Please note the sarcasm.

So here we where, Clarisse being very creative with rhyming swear words that would've put a cellmate to shame- if the cell mate survived the first few seconds with her- and punching me in every place she could. I won't mention my tailbone… I spotted the familiar gleam of an Iris message forming and decided not to mention it and let Clarisse beat me up some more, just to get her in trouble. Seconds later, I saw my dad's face forming out of the mist. I tried to look as in- pain as possible , but, sadly, my father decided, many years ago, that he would not tell the world that he, a rare, peacefull centaur, has an immortal son that is, in fact, HUMAN! forget I said that...

anyhow... my dads eyes narrowed and he looked like he was about to explode as soon as he saw the state that i was in. here is what happened:

He eyed us for a moment, then exclaimed

"CLARISSE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THE POOR LAD? "

Clarisse glared at him and snarled

"what do you think I was doing, horse butt?"

I could feel a fight building up, and I already knew that my dad could get pretty deadly in protective mode, so I tried to stop it as fast as possible.

" Um, da- I mean, _director_ Chiron, maybe you should calm down a little…."

My father promptly ignored me and wen't on ranting,

" HOW DARE YOU HARM MY SON? YOU LITTLE –SPAMMING-SPAMMING- DAUGHTER OF ARES! I KNEW I SHOULDN'T HAVE HELPED YOUR FATHER! YOUR LUCKY THAT PERCY DESIDED TO TELL THE WORLD ABOUT THE tail curler, OTHER WISE I'D HAVE YOU KILLED BY THE CYCLOPS STANDING BEHIND YOU!"

His face disappeared in a splash of misty color and I realized that my jaw was hanging down to the floor. Wow. That was unexpected... wait... did he say Cyclops? i turned around slowly and decided not to tell Clarisse that Tyson was behind her... good thing its Tyson! (It's also a good thing that i promised him a pony, otherwise he would've knocked me out like he did to Clarisse.)

The next day, I was literally making headline news, thanks to Michael yew, that annoying Apollo camp councilor. The news (cough, rumor, cough) was that Chiron had a son in camp... as if! O.o hem... lets just say that I was a happy son of Hermes at the moment, so I wasn't a major suspect... (The key word is major...) The sons of Hermes where, naturally, getting questioned. So i had to work on lying, - which I've never done in my life- theft- the same thing as lying- and general loudness and prankyness...

Please, tell me to be quiet and curl up in the Hypnos cabin any day...

At the campfire, Chiron announced that he did not have any children and those rumors where dangerous for the camps reputation...

But I, Carystus, Chiron's son, know more than what is told...

The unofficial end

NOOOO! NOT THE PANKAKES! NOOOO!


	2. A hero replaces me, AGAIN

The next day, the Hermes cabin got inspected anyways, and then, suddenly, everyone was gone and I was standing_ alone_ with a girl from the Athena cabin. She eyed me for a few seconds, and then nodded at the chair in front of her. I gulped down my anxiety and sat down slowly. She immediately burst headfirst into a rant about how disrespectful Hermes kids where and that I should go ahead and play whatever stupid prank I want to play.

I just sat down silently and waited for her to calm down, but when I did that, she seemed even madder. Maybe it's just a child of Athena type of thing. I think not. You see, it ended with her face getting as red as the organic strawberries outside. Me backing of slowly, then getting shoved- actually slammed- into the wall while she left the cabin in tears. That's when I felt dizzy. Black spots danced in front of my eyes. I vaguely remember the floor rushing up to meet my face. Then, the darkness took over.

Do not, ever, loose consciousness, if you can help it. You see, it's not like you wake up, and magically, the pain just appears out of nowhere. It's more like this; before you wake up there is this horrible, horrible pain throbbing in your head. Then, when you open your eyes even more painful pain rushes straight to your head.

Before I gross you out, or bore you to death with the icky bits, I want to tell you that I can't exactly get ambrosia or nectar even close to my mouth. Technically, I'm Quarter wood-nymph, quarter centaur, quarter horse/titan, and quarter human-ish. The entire thing is, that you can never be sure about giving any godly stuff to me, 'cause there is always the conflict of opinion about my dad being a god or not. He is, because he ate ambrosia at the annual camp theatre night, and nothing happened to him.

But, when I was five, (wow! that was such a long time ago!) This half-Egyptian-Quarter-Roman-Quarter-Greek thingy attacked me and it ended up with me in coma and my dad making a wheelchair that could compress his horse half, so he could make a living while I was err, out of it. Camp half-blood was run by Dionysus, as a punishment for…. Well, I'm sure you already know the rest, so I won't get into the details and such.

But anyways, those where though times for my dad. First, he received the news than Hippe, my oldest sister, had asked Artemis to turn her into a constellation because she had a daughter and was ashamed to tell Chiron. Then, five minutes later, another Iris message appeared while he was in a restaurant. Saying that his second daughter, Endeis, had murdered her step-son, and was then banned from the city of Athens. (Her body was found a few months later, but everybody decided it would be too much for Chiron to learn about.)

Then came the news that my other sister, Ocyrhoe, had been transformed into a horse for helping a centaur out of a hunting trap. She had no memories of her human life whatsoever, and was now happily roaming around in green grassy fields. This saddened dad a lot, because, out of all of his daughters, she was the peace fullest. I would've cried my heart out if some body had told me, then and there, but when they did, the memories of her where long since forgotten.

The worst part happened a few years later, when I turned twelve, and my dad found that boy, Percy Jackson. It was as if I'd disappeared from his life forever. He only remembered me when he got an illegal phone call from mount Olympus, and was told, by a tear-shedding Artemis, that my mom had been killed by some stupid, self conceited titan.

Here, you're probably thinking something like "aw, poor Chiron!" But that's my point. Somewhere, along the way, I seemed to become only a fragment of everyone's memory. Even that author, - Rick Riordan, I think- Cut out the fact that I saved Percy many times…

When I did come out of coma, it was as if I had never existed. My father was teaching another hero, and that meant curling up into a small, forgotten ball, _again_.

I'm not saying that I hate Percy or anything, we're great friends, actually, but there was this stage in my life that he seemed to replace my spot as a son.

The unofficial end

NO! NOT DA PANKAKES!NOOOOOO!


	3. A bus lands in the lake

My breath frosted in the cold mid-morning air and the grass crunched under my feet. I closed my eyes and listened for any sounds of intrusion-by that I mean evil snake-ladies and stuff. I heard a soft scratching noise and smiled when I saw the robin making deep grooves in the earth with its talons. I threw some birdseed and watched it peck them out of the dirt. A bunch of animals scurried out of a bush behind me, clearly panicked.

Suddenly, the snow in front of me melted rapidly, and the entire sky seemed to burst into flames. A rush of scorching heat blasted over me even as I ducked and I heard a male voice yelling" BRAKE!" Seconds later I heard a loud splash and a bunch of naiads scurried away from the molten canoes bobbing around half-heartedly. I sprinted forwards to help and stopped, stunned when I saw the huge, white-hot _bus_ sitting in the now boiling water of the lake.

The door to the bus opened smoothly, and Percy Jackson stepped out. I knew it was him as soon as I saw his sea green eyes widen at the sight of the glowing non-heat fireballs that me and dad had hung around the cabins last night. Another boy with black hair and a face that reminded me of someone I couldn't name jumped out behind him and yelled" Whoa! Is that a climbing wall? Why is there lava? Is it REAL?" – I couldn't help but smile at that little remark- Behind that little cute kid a bunch of _hunters_piled out. I. Hate. Hunters. Period. Exclamation. Mark. Angry. Slash. Frowney . Face.

I practically lost it when that Zoe girl came out of the bus. I wanted to storm over and scream in Apollo's face about what he could've done to delay the hunters. She looked at me as if I was supposed to be in the pits of Tartarus, boiling and screaming in agony. I glared back and resisted the urge to punch her in the guts when she said,

"Oh, look, it's the shy Hermes kid again. Can we burn his cabin like last time?"

"No! Zoe, you're here as guests, and you do realized that my dear half-brother centaur Chiron could kick you out at any moment, now don't you?" Apollo then closed his eyes and muttered something about poems. I quickly seized Percy's arm, grabbed some suitcases with my free hand, and trudged up the slightly-charred hill before the lord of the sky cooked us to bits with English literature.

"C'mon, Nico, lets get our buts up that hill" Percy muttered, "Zoe, have you met-

"I have met the _centaur_" Zoe snarled, eyes flashing, exactly in time with me saying, luckily in a much quieter voice,

" She knows him" The way she said centaur was the same way one might say, um, _Apollo's Poems_. And that just made me hate her even more. Let's just say it's a part-centaur type of thing.

When we reached the big house, I obviously hung back and gave Percy the look most people give him when they'd rather be somewhere else. He nodded in that understanding way of his, glared at Zoe for the murderous look I'd earned for myself, and went into the big house, closing the door behind him. I already knew that Annabeth was gone, and she was just about the only person that actually listened to me speak, so I had nothing to do but walk away to see how much damage the sun bus had created. Oh, and I am NOT, absolutely NOT having ANY feelings for her, OK? She's just a FRIEND.

Anyhow... I wondered what the camps reaction to loosing capture the flag would be like. Probably a little fighting here and there, and alot of the usual bad-mouthing, nothing to extreme...

I could never get wronger than that.


	4. A hunter tries to kill me

At the campfire that night, dad announced that we would have a 'friendly match' between the campers and the hunters' tomorrow evening. At least now I had a chance to payback that Zoë girl for burning the Hermes cabin to the ground three years ago. I was starting to think of the boy with the black hair-Nico Diangelo- as a little brother (don't ask me why) and I was seriously missing Percy Jacksons Cyclops brother, Tyson… But, anyways, um, back to the point: We where going to get beaten to a pulp by the Hunters tomorrow, no matter what.

The conch horn blew and our decoys sprinted into the left side of the woods, immediately attracting a bunch of angry hunters. I glared at the back of Silena's picture perfect hair and told her (in my head) to run faster for about the 50th time in a row. She glanced at me over her shoulder and yelled to be heard over the sounds of metal crashing against metal to our right.

"Don't you have, like, some type of random prank your dad made? Anytime would be fine now."

I stared at her blankly.

"What," Another member of our team asked, while gasping for air, "A child of Hermes doesn't have any pranks with him?"

I hoped against hope that we would just _get moving, already. _But noo. We just had to stand there for two friggin' seconds and wait for one of the Aphrodite kids to untangle her hair. Did I just swear? Okay, you get the point: I was stressed out. This was like a battle to the death. The only thing was that none of us would admit it…yet.

I heard an unmistakable whipping sound to my left and leapt forwards, knocking Silena, Jason, and Connor Stroll onto the ground in an ungraceful heap. Travis quickly threw a wind-up toy into a bush, causing them to rustle while we got as far away as we could before the frog exploded in a shower of sparks and foul smelling gasses. We could all hear the hunters gagging and chocking from a mile away. I pulled the arrow out of the tree, where the Aphrodite girls nose had been a moment before, took on glance at it and nudged Jason, pointing to the arrow with my free hand. Jason stared at it, then said,

"Okay, guys, and um, girls, I guess," this earned him about twenty or so angry remarks and playful shoves, "Either theses girls are trying to kill us, or they accidentally used an arrow drenched in hydra venom."

"Probably like, the first choice?" The Aphrodite girl muttered, while checking her nails for smudges. This got a lot of nods and agreements for her.

Something flickered to my right, and Silena yelled "SCATTER" at the top of her lungs. I picked up a semi-sharp stone, leapt over a trip wire and quickly climbed a tree as soon as I was out of earshot. I did have to push a hunter down from the second branch of the tree, and steal her weapons, but that's a long story.

The view from the top of the tree was amazing, and I got this nagging feeling that id been there before. I climbed around to an area of the tree that kept me hidden, but every one in my sight and notched an arrow as soon as I saw one of the hunters jabbing an arrow into one of the twin's helmets. The Stroll brother, the one without the arrow in his helmet, was already in a crumpled heap on the grassy clearing. I let the arrow fly, and a fart-arrow exploded right in front of the girls' feet, causing her to recoil, drop her knife (which she probably would've used to kill the twins.) and sprint into the woods, yelling at the world that they had a traitor in their group. I just sat at the top of the tree for a good five minuets, shooting down people whenever possible, but then, suddenly, I felt a dagger pressing into my neck.


	5. I get zapped with lightning

My hands flew to my neck and I struggled to pry the fingers away from the dagger. The girl behind me was definitely here to kill. There is a difference between holding a knife threateningly and holding a knife like you are actually going to use it, and not knowing the difference could cost you your life.

Without thinking about the long fall underneath me, I arched my back, giving the girl the imitation that I was going to buck her off my back. The girl tightened her grip, and, not letting my self even think what would happen, I leapt off the branch.

The girl screamed as the ground rushed up to meet our faces. At the last moment, my hand shot out and grabbed a branch, nearly twisting my shoulder out of its socket. Splinters dug painfully into my palm and I gritted my teeth so that I wouldn't scream at the pain. The girl hung onto my leg, obviously in shock, and seemed to be trying to loosen my grip on the branch. Finally, she let go of me, landing with a thump on the ground, and sprinted into the woods, calling for recruits. When I did let go of the branch, which was about six feet up in the air, it was because that same, stupid dagger had imbedded itself in my wrist. (I knew I should've taken it from her) I _did _scream when that happened, _no duh._

I heard cheering and sighed through gritted teeth, the sigh ending with a yelp as the dagger shifted slightly. The hunters had probably won for the I-don't-know-what-time-in-a-row. The cheering stopped abruptly, and I heard Talia yelling her head off. (Nobody yells like her) So I decided to check it out. I mean, I had to get there anyways; otherwise the entire camp would be searching for me.

When I did get to the meeting place, it was practically a battlefield. Dad was tending about fifteen or so campers with some help from two hunters, which I found a bit strange. Percy was in the lake, furious. Talia was glaring at him, her face as red as the organic strawberries in the fields, her shield, the one that I thought looked funny, in her hand.

If you've never seen Percy use his powers, then you don't know the meaning of scary. Same with not seeing Talia use hers. I'll try to explain. When Percy uses his power, I have absolutely no clue what he thinks those giant waves of his look like. If you look at them the right way, you can see his face, all old and angry and gods damned terrifying, with his mouth open and all, 'I will swallow you whole'.

When Talia uses her power, her entire body seems to burst into light momentarily; probably blinding anybody that has the guts to look at her when she's mad, which is, you know, _nobody_. Also, she gives this war-cry that actually hurts to hear. At the moment, Percy's clothes where smoldering, and it was pretty easy to guess why.

"You want some fighting, Seaweed brain?" Talia growled.

"Bring it on, Pinecone face!" Percy yelled.

Personally, I would've called Talia 'Christmas tree', if I could help it.

After electrocuting Percy a dozen times, and getting blasted into trees with high-pressure sea water, Talia stopped for a few seconds, panting. Percy drew his sword and charged, a wild look in his eyes. Dad had to grab me to stop me from lunging forwards. I struggled in his grip, then I leapt forwards, right between them, and yelled

"STOP IT!" right at their faces. Jaws dropped, eyes widened, and a stunned silence overtook the clearing.

"Look at yourselves," I continued, "Look at what you're doing. You're lunging at each others throats just because you lost a _game_. It's not that much of a-

"SHUT UP!" Talia and Percy roared, glaring at me. I shook my head.

"No, I WON'T shut up!" I exclaimed, "What do you think you're doing? Do you think that just because you're powers are so great, other people don't mind getting hurt because of them? What do you think? TELL ME!" I roared.

"Talia….Maybe he's right…" Percy started, seeming to calm down a bit.

Talia snarled and raised her spear, then, there was a crackling sound. A bolt of lightning shot towards Percy and, ignoring my dads warning, I jumped in front of him, not being able to close my eyes in time. For a moment, I saw shapes, almost shadows, really, of my dead sisters and my mom. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground, body jerking uncontrollably. In seconds, dad had trotted over to see how much damage had been done. After thirty minuets or so, I was taken to the infirmary to rest a little. Little did I know, the image of my dead family members would probably be the last complete thing I'd ever see.


	6. Black Out

** Okay, guys, this chapter is going to be pretty short-I think…. Also, I may not post in a long while, cause, you know, schools starting and stuff. NO, I'M NOT, REPEAT, NOT, A BOY. Thank you for asking, random anonymous user who PM'd me. Understand? Good. Cause you should. Anyhow…. Comment, and um, stuff. :) **** Please forgive me for spelling Talia as in Talia not the other actual spelling of Talia, you know? Cause this thingy auto corrects and I'm to lazy to fix it. Yes. My caps-lock key-board thingy works again! **** I. LOVE. EMOTICONS. HAPPY. FACE. CRAZY. GRIN. nope, I'm not crazy, for your information. Darn, back to math class…. Anyhow, enjoy : D**

"Higher, higher, there, now bring your shield up!" Percy instructed while charging at me with his sword in hand. After about an hour of scuffling, my vision blacked out right when Percy lunged forwards. I brought my hand up quickly, as a sign that I couldn't see, and Percy stopped, probably grinning in triumph. He grabbed my hand, causing me to yelp and hopefully give him a look that said 'for the hundredth time, don't do that.' He then pulled me up to my feet and led me out of the arena, warning me when there was something blocking my way. When we where almost at the big house, my vision came back in a shower of dazzling light and color. Luckily, I wasn't staring at the sun. (Happened once before) or standing in front of the archers targets (got hit with an arrow the last time that happened.) So I guess I was okay.

I don't really think Talia should be blamed about this, to be truthful. I kind of feel bad for her. I mean, dad probably holds a secret grudge against her now. And lots of the other campers would probably bug her, if they dared… But, yeah, I don't think she should be blamed for this at all.

But I do blame her, and Percy, for the popularity; though.

I mean, seriously, people, when I told Percy and Talia to stop it, or something like that; I never expected any of this to happen. As soon as I got out of the infirmary, a bunch of Aphrodite kids crowded around me, and jabbered on and on and on and- okay you get the point. Sooner or later, every single person in camp knew me. And. I. did. Not. Like .it. At. All.

So much for curling up into a small, forgotten ball… But seriously, I'm going to consider you a child of Aphrodite-a snobby, one, not one like Silena- If you think, for one, underworldified moment, that I should enjoy the popularity and dance around with the joy of it. I really, really, really hope that some random god or goddess listens to my prayers of the popularity ending, but noo, I just _have_ to save Percy _again_, now, don't I? of course I do!

And not from a lightning bolt, but from a giant, evil, titan-infested, enchilada-loving satyr named Grover.

**To be continued possibly not-so-soon. I will post next chapters as soon as possible. :) Hope you liked this :)**


	7. I choose what my grave should look like

I think living in the same cabin as Connor and Travis had a bad influence on me. I suddenly decided to use on of Percy's main rules against him, something like; be aware at all times. You're opponent may try to trick you into thinking he or she is surrendering…

I decided to take him on with the element of surprise. I leapt forwards, knocking him into a barrel of horse food, and caught him in a position where if he struggled, his arm would probably break. (Don't blame me! It was the first thing that popped in my head!)

"Not…fair…" Percy panted, spitting straw out of his mouth. "You took me… by… surprise!" I smiled down at him angelically (I _am_ tall, no duh…) and muttered,

"You don't even obey your own rules, silly." Percy grinned back and gave me a playful, and painful, slap on the back.

That's when we heard Grover's girlfriend scream.

Percy and I looked at each other and drew our weapons. I got my bow ready while Percy uncapped riptide, his pen-sword. We both grinned, and, yelling something dumb like, 'FOR NARNIA', we charged. I know I say this a lot, so I'll change it up a bit: It _was_ a battlefield when we got there.

Dad was treating a bunch of campers in a corner and Silena was struggling like the damned in the underworld to get Juniper to calm down. I wondered what had happened. I spotted Grover, standing in a corner with his foot on a tree. I frowned. It wasn't like Grover to, you know, _lean_ against a tree, much less put his foot on one. He must be pretty upset about something.

I was just about to ask him what happened when a dagger shot out of no-where-land and impaled itself in Silena's shoulder. She cried out in pain and stumbled into the healing corner just before passing out cold. I was pretty sure the daggers where poisoned with something like hydra venom. I _knew_ it was hydra venom. And I swear to the gods and goddesses that it was Grover who threw the dagger with highly unlikely reflexes.

I heard a swiping noise to my right and ducked, a poisoned dagger slicing into the tree behind me where my neck had been a second ago. Another dagger slashed through my t-shirt, missing my skin by a centimeter. I was pretty sure that if I got stabbed, my grave would be something like this:

Carytus, Son of an Unknown Person

Killed in an Unknown Place,

At an Unknown Time

By a dagger wielding

Unknown Teenager

Honestly, I would've liked my grave to look something like these options:

BOO!

Or

Hey, nice shirt! How's the weather out there?

Or

Looking good today… Can I haunt you? I'll take that as a yes :)

I'm pretty sure you guys are thinking something like, 'Dude! Grover turned evil and is trying to kill you and you're talking about what your grave should look like when you die?' or maybe you're thinking, 'Why doesn't he die already?' or ' Stop guessing what I'm thinking and get on with the gods dammed story!'

Since you asked me so nicely, I will. (Okay, okay, Clarisse! I stopped ranting and I'm going to write the rest! Would you _please_ stop pressing that knife into my back?)

**But when I do… It'll be in the next chapter. Sorry about that... :)**


	8. My fingers get dipped in gold mist

**BOO! Okay, now, where was I? Oh, yes, the grave options. I'm kidding! Very sorry about not posting for a while! I blame it on math class: D. .You will have the usual story back (I hope) without a bunch of random ranty-things going on in the middle. (Even though I like rants) Please, please, pwease REVIEW, for the god's sakes! But no flamers please. So much for 'not writing anymore of the bold things at the beginning of the chapters'… Oh, and, again, I AM NOT A BOY! How many –bleeped- times do I have to tell the world that? Huh? **

**So I just decided to log in (cough, **_**hack**_**, cough) into my moms account to post this thing. Because I'm not allowed posting anything on here for a while since my mom officially believes that writing fan fiction will lower my grades. If you agree or disagree with that, please review about it…**

**Another random decision of the day: I'm now aiming for 100 reviews by the end of September. Hope you contribute to that…**

**I think I'll get going with the story now… okay?**

**As for Carytus, well, if I where a boy, I'd be him… awkwardness…. I mean, not **_**him **_**(even though having Chiron as a dad would be, like, awesome) But I guess my personality and stuff would be like his. (I **_**am **_**tall, no duh…) Anyhoow… um, hope you like it. Also do you guys think I should write more of these bold thingies in the next chapters? Review! : ) **

After staring at the dagger for a few precious seconds, I sprang up into the air, bending around a bunch of hydra-weapons that where flying towards me in mid-air. I grasped a branch and swung myself up a bit too hard, smacking my forehead on a branch above me. I blinked the dark spots out of my eyes and looked down at the enchilada-murderer (don't ask) struggling to come up with a way to, A: Get off the branch without dying B: try to defeat the enchilada-murderer, or C: figure out how the Hades I got _on _the branch, which was about five feet in the air.

I decided to go with B, which somehow involved A as well.

I looked around, searching for something to grab on, and praying to the gods that Mr. enchilada-murderer couldn't see me from where he was standing. I think someone listened because he just started to pace back and forth, back and forth back and- Okay, whatever. You know what I mean.

I looked around, all the while realizing that the branch was creaking under my weight. (That does not, in any way, imply that I am fat.) I saw something shimmer in front of me, and I realized it was string. I decided something really, really, _dumb_: that I could hold the string and it could hold my weight. (120 pounds) and that I was also tall enough to reach it (5'9") which is pretty tall for a 10000 year old, if i do say so myself.

Turns out I was wrong…

I grasped the string just as the branch got torn off the tree, causing Grover's head to snap my way. I hung there for a few seconds, then, _snap_, the string split and I was falling down, about to land on Grover- hard.

As soon as my feet hit Grover, golden mist began to spiral out of his mouth, reaching me in seconds. A tendril of the mist wrapped around my neck, and it felt as if a hand was where the mist was, squeezing the life out of me. I remember spotting Grover pass out in a corner. The mist coiled tighter. Growing black spots entered my vision, and my lungs where burning. My hands instinctively shot up to my neck, but I drew away as soon as I touched the mist. It burned like the bloody _underworld. _ I swear to Hades that my fingers just got dipped in golden acid. I trashed around wildly in an effort to loosen its grip, and suddenly, I couldn't move. My legs bent awkwardly and I flew to the ground, hitting it face first, with my mouth open. I felt something cold touch my tongue and prayed to the gods that it was just mud. I tried to look at whatever it was but, well, why don't you guess what happened?

That's right!

My vision blacked out.

**Thanks for reading! I will post as soon as possible and please review, okay? Deal!**


	9. I call my friend a Nincompoop

The coldness traveled up my tongue, and I screamed as it possibly shriveled up into a mass of blackened flesh. I suddenly knew what was happening. I also knew that screaming was a _really_ bad idea, but I just couldn't stop doing it. The coldness crept up into the back of my throat and I gagged as it forced its way down. My hand moved slowly, even though I didn't want it to. A voice seemed to roar in my head in a language id never heard in my 1000 year old life, but seemed to understand. I heard a bit of the song _Long Live _blasting from somewhere near the Aphrodite cabin.

…. I don't think anyone was _Long Living _me at that moment. I clamped my hands on my ears as the voice roared,

"WHAT'S YOUR NAME, HUH? SPILL THE BEANS, PRINCESS!" I tried to think of a good answer but what I tried to say came out as a groan. The pain in my head was unbearable and just the thought of talking made it feel like shattering to bits of flesh and bone. My vision clicked on and I cried out in pain as the sunlight flooded my eyes. Percy sprinted forwards, about to help me, and then, _smack_, my hand had shot out and _something_ hit him in the abdomen, sending him sprawling onto the ground. He stumbled backwards, cursing under his breath, and glared at me for a few seconds.

"COME ON, CUPKAKE, YOU KNOW I'M A TITAN! TELL ME YOU'RE NAME AND WE CAN SORT THIS OUT, OK?" the voice paused, and then added, "IF YOU DON'T, I'LL FRY YOUR BRAIN! OKAY? DEAL."

I tried my best not to respond to that, and quickly regretted it when he said, "YOUR DAD _WILL_ BE NEXT." That's when I knew I needed to go into high-risk-mode, just to save my only relative that actually liked me.

_Fine, _I thought. _It's just that, with all of you're, um... Greatness inside of my head, I can't think properly enough to tell you my name. _

"REASONABLE! I WILL RETREAT JUST A BIT. OKAY? OKAY."

The painfulness retreated slightly and tears sprung into my eyes as I gulped air down greedily. "HURRY UP!" the voice roared, back to full-amp-mode. I opened my mouth and screamed,

"RUN_, FOR THE GODS SAKE, YOU **NINCOMPOOPS!** RUN!"_

Percy's eyes widened in shock. After standing there for a little while, he hoisted Silena over his shoulder and sprinted away. That only left me and dad, who was staring at me with those sad brown eyes. A vague memory of him picking a two-year-old me up and actually _laughing_ pinpricked in my brain. I suddenly realized how long ago the last time I saw him looking genuinely happy was. He looked at me and for an instance; I thought he might actually help me. But he didn't. After a long moment of silence, he turned and cantered away.

But there was a message in the dirt. The only problem was, I couldn't see it from where I was standing.

And the titan wasn't letting me move, either.


	10. Blood and color changing eyes

Two Years Later

"One two three…. No! How many times do I have to tell you it's an upper hand strike, not an underhand?" I exclaimed. I turned around to hide a grin when I felt the stunned looks the Hermes kids where giving me. They probably didn't notice how different the wind sounded when they did an underhand. I sighed inwardly and turned to study them grimly. I knew they always went off guard when I couldn't see, so I lunged at the nearest kid, snatched his sword, and gave him a good jab in the ribs. His doubled over in pain. He's lucky the sword was made of wood.

My vision snapped back on and I cringed. One of the kids, - Daniel? - took this as the perfect opportunity to fake left, then slash down wards. Next thing he knew, _snap_, half of his sword was in my hand and the other half was pinning his orange t-shirt to a tree. Every body grinned. I was about to give them one of my trademark brooding looks, but then Percy and Annabeth stepped out of the Athena cabin together.

The entire sword fighting class exploded into cat calls and shouts of, "Hey, look, they got a room!" I quickly grabbed the nearest kids by the scruff of their necks and when I let them go, they ran about, telling everyone to shut up. The group of twelve-year olds shuffled into order, grumbling about how many pranks they could have pulled if I weren't their instructor. The conch horn blew and everybody sprinted away before I gave them any homework.

That's when Merelin walked over.

I try to avoid Merelin as much as possible. She reminds me way too much of… well, I'm getting of topic. She's the only sensible person, or girl, in my class.

"You seem so grim, Carytus. Why is that so?" Merelin asked softly, her intelligent eyes a wondering shade of brown. Then they quickly turned a queasy shade of purple. "It isn't a bad dream, is it?" she murmured.

I shook my head at her and walked away, vaguely hoping that she would get the point and go away. But no, she just had to smile concernedly and follow me as I walked towards the strawberry fields. She was still following me and I sighed as I sat underneath the willow tree I got shot down from a few years ago. She sat down beside me and I noticed her feet where blistered. Her shoes weren't on, for that matter.

I stood up and surveyed her inch by inch. The only thing wrong was the absence of her shoes. Then I noticed a small, slightly discolored area on her pale cheek. I poked it softly and Merelin howled in pain.

"Open your mouth," I commanded firmly. When she didn't listen, I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her with every word, " Open. Your. Mouth." I repeated. When she did, blood trickled out of her mouth and onto the ground. I let my eyes and voice soften.

" its okay. What happened?" the poor girl was sobbing now and through the muffled moans of pain I caught a few words.

" spy… saw.. spy… hit… make… forget." I frowned and began to ask her a second time, but something was wrong.

Merelin wasn't breathing.


	11. Whispers on the Wind

**Bwahahahahaha! Yes, centaurs- and part centaurs- speak welsh! Which means, just to add some mystery, you will have to go to Google translate to figure out what some people here are saying. Okay. Do I look like Rick Riordan? No. I'm also NOT a guy. Thats about it. Enjoy.**

"Merelin?" I asked, looking into her eyes. I shook so hard her teeth clacked together. " Merelin!" I drew back my hand and slapped her on the cheek. It was like hitting a statue. No. I wouldn't let this happen again. Never.

I ran to Talia's tree, sprinted past the dragon, and grabbed the spare conch horn stashed in between the roots of the tree. A puddle of acid splashed the rock near me and it morphed immediately into a pile of grey goop. I sprinted by and smelled the hair on the nape of my neck smoldering. I kept on running until I reached Merelin again. Her face was turning ash grey. I put the conch horn to my lips and blasted three short notes as fast as I could. An answering blast came from the strawberry fields below. I knelt down and began to pump Merelin's chest so hard I swear I heard a rib crack. I heard the pounding of hooves skid to a stunned halt.

"No," dad managed. His face was pale. After he got over his surprise, he galloped the rest of the way so fast I thought he would bend time. I paused and felt for a pulse. Nothing.

By now, campers where coming over the crest of the hill, and I tried my best to ignore the looks they where giving me. I stopped pumping and silently slid my fingers down, over her eyelids, and shut her eyes. The wind rustled through the long grass around us. Every one had their eyes to the ground. I smoothed Merelin's hair away from her forehead and kissed her forehead once, as a blessing. Then I stepped away and listened. A soft voice was on the wind, a whisper that seemed to echo in my skull.

"She is of Aphrodite, Carytus... I hope you'll realize that much." Merelin's voice breathed. I grimaced slightly and rubbed at my temples. The change would come in a day or two. I turned to tell dad but he, like everyone else, was staring at the sky. A small star, softly glowing blue, had appeared. For a few seconds the constant headache that had been persisting during the day seemed to disappear, but then, as suddenly as it went, it came back.

The world seemed to fold in two. I sank to my knees and tried my best not to scream. The change would come tonight. I should've known. I forced myself to walk over to my dad and leaned forwards until my lips brushed against his ear.

" Mae'r newid wedi dod ,_" _I whispered urgently. He nodded solemnly and ruffled my hair.

"Well, then, I do hope you'll visit as soon as you get used to it," He murmured, but his face was troubled. He looked over his shoulder and paused to let Percy and some campers go out of earshot, "_Os ydych yn llwyddo i ddod o hyd i'ch chwaer ..._ _" _He hesitated, and looked pained_, "Dywedwch wrth ei bod hi's dal i groesawu yma ._Off you go, then." He said simply. His eyes bore into mine._ Please, don't let the change take hold of you like it did to your brother._ He thought. I nodded. _I won't_. I thought back. He nodded, I turned away, and sliped into the shadows.

It was time for the change.


	12. The change Ish

**(Note: this is after the change happens. Maybe I'll write a scene of what happened if you guys want me to... Well, I hope you notice the difference in the... Voice, I guess. Enjoy!)**

"Carytus?" Percy stepped into the corner of my vision and I backed away slowly. When he realized that it was me, he flushed red. "S-sorry. I thought you where the missing camper." he muttered.

I turned to him calmly and murmured," and what made you think I am this Carytus figure?"

"Well, you have the same nose... And eyes... And the same brooding expression...and... You could pretty much pass as twins if it weren't for your, erm, horse half..."

I allow the ghost of a smile to touch my face. "What was he like? The missing boy?" I ask after a short pause.

Percy hesitates and eventually answers,

"He reminded me a lot of Chiron, you know? He seemed like a kind of person who had seen and experienced stuff impossible to imagine." he trails off, the. Suddenly exclaims, "it was my fault, you know, him being blind."

I look down at him and place a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure he wouldn't blame you," I reassure him.

Just then, Chiron steps forwards and I tense up when I see Percy's astonished face when he sees us next to each other. Our faces almost mirror each-others, although once, a child of Aphrodite told me I looked like Orlando Bloom, the resemblance to my father is a little greater. The only thing different is my black horse half, and my eyes. When I was younger, Apollo used to joke that I stole his eyes when he was halfway through a prophecy, and gave him mine, even though no one had seen Apollo give a prophecy. Yet.

**( Just to make up to you, I will post about five chapters soon. I just need to edit…)**


	13. The Prophecy part one

Today is visiting day. Kind of like a parent student meeting for the gods. Which meant that all the gods and goddesses (Hestia and Artemis included) where roaming all around camp saying hi to their children. Hermes was teaching Connor and Travis How to prank the Apollo cabin, while Apollo and his kids listened on disapprovingly behind their backs. After a couple of hours, we all gathered around the campfire and listened to Artemis give a Long speech about how the amount of claimed demigods had successfully risen this year.

Suddenly, the campfire turned a dark, demonic black. A soft female laugh echoed across the field. The ashes of the fire rearranged themselves into a feminine face, dark eyes glittering and pupil less.  
>"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" a grinding voice murmured. " Apollo ? Yes. It's you. I can feel your arrow trained on me." a slit appeared where the mouth was and the face smiled at Apollo, who had an arrow notched and pointed at her face. "May I ask a question?" the face murmured. Apollo didn't respond. He released the arrow and it flew, thudding into the center of the face. But the face merely slid across the floor. "I'll take that as a yes." it hissed. Apollo tensed, ready for an attack. But it never came. The face laughed a grim echo that vibrated through my skull painfully. The silence afterwards was just as painful, but it made everyone, including Apollo, strain to listen to Gaia's next words. They roared so loudly that they brought everyone to his or her knees. The words where unintelligible. But the affect was shocking.<p>

Apollo was the first one to get up. His eyes where closed, and his face was blank. "Approach, seeker, and ask." he said, his voice was flat and emotionless, and his mouth didn't move, even though his words where clear in my head. It was the same voice, but it sounded darker, as if one wrong word could make him unleash a plague. The face moved and made a noise like grinding stone.  
>Apollo turned towards it, Moving as if he where in a trance, he stepped forwards. Gaia shot upwards, her face right in front of Apollo's, her dress a column of earth. Her hair was intertwined with poison ivy. She smiled and placed her hands on both sides of his temples.<br>"What is the next great prophecy?" she asked sweetly.


	14. The Prophecy part two

Apollo's eyes snapped open, and his face paled. "I... Can't... Tell-" his entire body shuddered and he gasped for breath. His eyes rolled back in his head and closed. Then, slowly, his body began to float upwards. For a second, his body flickered out of existence and Artemis charged at Gaia, her eyes seething with rage. Gaia calmly raised her eyes and nodded, sending the goddess of the hunt slamming into a wall with enough force to make it tumble down on her. All of the gods surged forwards and began ripping the chunks of stone away from Artemis. It was the perfect diversion. I could see everyone straining to shout, or move, to do anything, but we couldn't. We where trapped. And Gaia was out of patience.

She snarled and pressed her hands harder against his skull. "Tell. Me. The. Great. Prophecy." she yelled while a thousand volts of electricity shot out of her hands. Apollo's back arched and he fell down on his back right in front of Gaia's feet. His jaw was clenched and his body was tense. Sweat lined his brow and his skin was so pale it was almost grey. His eyes where still closed. He wasn't breathing.  
>"Tell me." Gaia commanded.<p>

Apollo's eyes snapped open. They where white, like marble. His pupils where no more than a pinprick in each eye. He was staring straight up, but his gaze was blank, almost as if he wasn't seeing the blue sky above. He looked... As if he was underneath someone's control. Possessed. His eyes still had some flicker of recognition in them. But then they began to glaze over, and even his pupils disappeared into a sea of white. And with them, the recognition disappeared too.

His head suddenly snapped to the right, the entire half of his face hitting the ground. His body became rigid and jerked to the left. His cheek hit the floor. He drew a shuddering breath, and then began to breathe shallowly. By now, Artemis was free. She leaped forwards to drag her brother away, but stopped her hand a millimeter away from his arm.  
>" You're lucky, Gaia. You are so lucky that today is the day you are the strongest. That I don't have any weapons with me. But I have one question. How deep has he gone?" Artemis snapped.<p>

Gaia laughed, and Apollo's breathing became ragged. " deep enough for not even a leaf touching him," she grinned.  
>"No." Artemis looked shocked.<br>"Yes." Gaia responded cheerfully. "If even an ant touches him, he might fade. Or go in a coma." she added gleefully.  
>Artemis sank to her knees in front of her brother.<br>"Apollo, please. Listen. Look at me." she chocked out. Slowly, his head raised towards her voice and he looked at his twin right in the eye. " Apollo?" Artemis whispered. But Apollo's eyes where still glazed over. Dead. It was as he was staring right through her. A sudden, sickening thought hit me: he didn't recognize her. Didn't recognize the sky, or anything else. He was practically brain dead. His lips parted slightly and the scent of laurel leaf filled the air. a coil of greenish grey smoke shot out like a writhing snake. The sky darkened. His eyes turned a sickening shade of green.  
>His lips moved, and the words followed like a badly dubbed movie.<br>"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call  
>To storm or fire, the world must fall-"<br>Apollo cringed and cried out in pain. The campground was covered in a sheet of scented grey-green smoke that was curling out of apollos eyes and mouth.  
>Artemis backed away rapidly. Gaia laughed and grabbed the goddess, pressing a knife to her throat.<br>"I once heard that if one of you saw the other fade, the same would happen to the witness." Gaia crooned. She wrapped her arm tightly around Artemis' neck, and raised a foot above Apollo's chest. "If any of you step forwards, I'll kill them both." she snapped. Then, she calmly slashed a line down Artemis' cheek. Silver-gold blood poured out onto the blade. Gaia smiled thinly and let the knife hover above Apollo's face. A drop I Artemis' blood fell down and splashed onto Apollo's lips. Apollo shot up into a sitting position. Something dark flickered within his features. His eyes turned coal black, with no whites or pupils. Gaia hadn't noticed yet. She was too busy slashing away at Artemis' neck. The goddess' blood pooled on the ground. Apollo shot up into a standing position and calmly put his forearm on Gaia's neck, and rammed her into the wall. Gaia released Artemis, who slumped to the ground. Apollo continued pressing. His entire body shuddered As more electricity coursed through his body. His eyes became darker and darker. Gaia began to grasp at his hand and was struggling to pull his arm away, but he wouldn't budge. Her free hand slowly wrapped around her dagger and she chucked it at the unconscious goddess. Apollo's hand shot out and the dagger imbedded itself in his wrist. Black smoke curled off his body and he spoke, his voice quiet yet so powerful that the floor vibrated. The words where ancient, and Artemis cringed away from them like they could kill. A sudden swarm of insects began to crawl up Gaia's dress, until she was screaming in terror and pain from the boils that covered her body. Without even a pause, he yanked the knife out and it left his hand, hissing through the air and imbedding itself in the center of her chest. But she merely smiled. "Finish the prophecy" she crooned. Apollo fell forwards onto his knees, and Gaia wrapped her arms around him in a deadly embrace. The bugs scuttled away into the earth. Apollo's eyes dimmed. His head slid down until he was forehead to forehead with Gaia. The curling smoke dimmed to a tired grey. She smiled. " let me and you become one." she whispered. With shock, I realized that the campers where repeating her words. Percy and Annabeth's eyes met mine in horror. But Apollo merely shook his head weakly. He looked ready to die. His eyes, usually so bright, where dimmed to a blue grey color. But there was a quiet power in them. They where my eyes. He was barely able to breathe. Gaia sighed, "Be that way." she snarled. Then she pulled the dagger out of her chest and plunged it into his stomach.


	15. The plunge

Apollo doubled over in pain and clutched at his stomach. Golden blood covered his hands in seconds. He looked up. His eyes where the same blue grey color, but with golden flecks in them. He took a shuddering breath.  
>" at least it's me and not my sister." he managed to cough out. Blood filled his mouth and he chocked.<br>" you can still live." Gaia whispered. "I know you want to."  
>For a second, Apollo hesitated. He said something. But he was so weak it was barely a whisper. Gaia leaned forwards. "What?" she asked.<br>Apollo raised his head defiantly and calmly spat in her face. "I said, never in all of the ages will I be in debt to you." he snarled. Gaia pulled away sharply, clearly in pain. "I'll be back, Apollo, and I will get the rest of the prophecy from you." she hissed. Half of her face was smoking and bugs crawled out of her eyes.  
>" next time, make sure I'm too week to unleash a plague." Apollo whispered weakly. Gaia screamed in rage and placed her hand on Apollo's skull. Immediately, Apollo's eyes rolled back in his head and his body slumped as a sharp crackle of light shot through his body, shutting his brain down. Gaia leaned forwards to make sure he wasn't breathing, and disappeared into the earth.<br>Immediately, Hestia shot forwards and began tending to Artemis, while Hermes struggled to wake up Apollo. Eventually, Artemis was carried away in a stretcher while Hestia donated blood. As for Apollo, the only solution was mortals.  
>Annabeth whipped out her phone and called the ambulance while Hermes placed Apollo on the side of the road and Splattered glass on the road to make it look like a hit and run. Annabeth changed into running shoes, yoga pants, and a lulu lemon jacket borrowed form the Aphrodite cabin.<p>

We all hid in the bush until the ambulance arrived. Annabeth played the role of the innocent girl who was running and thought she saw someone on the road. The ambulance crew believed every second of it.  
>"It's alright, Hun." one of the nurses reassured her. "Do you know him?" she added.<br>Annabeth paled right on cue when she saw Apollo's face. "He-he's my biology teacher's brother!" she gasped. "he must have gone to visit her."  
>The nurse nodded and promised to call as soon as possible. Poseidon made sure Apollo's horses knew what to do. Camp half blood fell silent.<br>A few days later, we got the call.


	16. The Call

Artemis picked up the phone on the first ring. "is he ok?" she snapped before even a word came out from the other end of the line. Some of the campers blinked in shock. It was highly rare for Artemis to even mention her brother without a hint of being annoyed.

Athena reached forwards and hit the speaker button with her palm. Everyone tensed up as the hesitation on the other end of the line grew.

"I'm truly sorry, ma'am. He's been declared stage one on the Glasgow coma scale. He's on life support at the moment. If you want to, you could come and visit him." the woman's voice on the other end of the line was high and thin, like a gust of wind would blow it away.

"Don't even mention taking off the life support." Artemis snarled, "I'll be there. And lots of other family members will be too." she added, looking at each cabin leader, the gods and goddesses, and me and my father each in turn.

"A-alright ma'am," there was a crackle of static on the line, and I could here a lowered voice crooning at the attendant," sorry. We only accept one visitor per day." she squeaked.

Artemis huffed. "I'll be there." she repeated. In a flash, iris made sure we could see what was happening via iris message.

We sat there and watched Artemis get off multiple buses and jog into the hospital visitor's ward. She slammed her hand down on the receptionist's desk.

"I'm here to see my brother, Helios Greene." she said calmly.

The receptionist looked up, clearly bored. Her glasses where perched far too low on her nose. "Name?" she droned.

"Diane Greene," Artemis replied, smiling thinly when she saw the look on the receptionists face," Our parents where into mythology." she explained.

The receptionist nodded and led Artemis to a room on the top floor. She unlocked it and swung the door open. "You have 45 minuets." she said, and then strode briskly down the hall.

Artemis peeked into the room. There was no light switch, only a window covered in thick curtains. There was a piece of paper on the ground. It was a receptionist's note. Artemis paled and turned it so we could see.

Dear madam Earthsbane,

Thank you for alerting us on the severe reaction the patient has to light. Unfortunately, following your visit, the patient has considerably fallen into the deepest stage of coma. We have set up blinds and curtains and removed all lighting to insure his condition doesn't worsen. The patient has now been declared as scale one on the Glasgow coma scale and may become brain dead. The patient is also strangely responding only to some words in Greek (as we learned during you visit) and appears to be in a state of PVS. We have put him on life support, which we will remove as soon as his sister leaves.

Thank you,

Elisa Waverley.

Artemis peered into the shadows, and Caught a glimpse of her brothers silhouette. She immediately rushed forwards and sank down to the floor in shock.

Apollo, lord of the sun, lay, his face almost translucent so you could see to the bone beneath. His eyes where closed and unblinking. His body was thin and only a ghost of yesterday, Tense and rigid. A mask was on his face, and his chest went up and down in a fake peace. The heart monitor beeped a small, slow pace. Dozens of wires, tubes, and IV's where attached to his body. A machine whirred and blood began pouring into Apollo's veins. His eyes snapped open, a bright electric blue that reminded me of May Castellan. "Artemis..." he managed to choke out. He struggled to get up, but a vial of liquid entered his stomach through a tube and he fell back. The heart rate monitor remained at the same steady beat as before. But I remembered something I had learned long ago.

Gods could only receive blood donations from other gods. And Apollo was receiving human blood. It was killing him rapidly. Each second heartbeat took longer than the last to occur. Artemis reached forwards and yanked the blood donor tube out of her twins arm, then stared at the tank the mask was attached to.

It was carbon monoxide.

She slowly lessened the pressure of the gas, and then pulled the mask away almost gingerly. Apollo drew a shuddering breath and lay still; his jaw clenched like it was two days ago. Artemis rushed to the window and yanked the curtains down. Sunlight streamed from far above straight onto Apollo's face. He looked worse than he had been in the shadows. He began gasping for air, almost as if he were having a nightmare. Sweat trickled down his forehead. His eyes opened slowly, but they where the same unseeing electric blue as before.

"Apollo? It's Artemis." the goddess of the hunt whispered in ancient Greek, "blink if you hear me."

Slowly, painfully, Apollo blinked. Artemis breathed a sigh of relief. "blink if you know me, or where you are, or who you are." she said in modern Greek.

No response. Artemis put her head down on Apollo's bed and began to sob her heart out. But then the unthinkable happened.

Apollo's hand rose upwards and trembled, then gently rested on Artemis' arm. She looked up at his face with shock as his hand slowly moved and his fingers brushed away her tears. He was still looking up, eyes still the same color, but something new was in them. Something ancient. Slowly, his eyes turned back to their normal color. He grimaced as more clear liquid pumped through him as he tried to get back up. He sagged and gripped the edge of the bed tightly with his hands and pulled himself up into a sitting position. His skin was chalk white. Artemis cried out in relief and grinned. "Apollo? Apollo! I thought..." Artemis trailed off when she realized the blank look he was giving her. She quickly switched to Greek. Apollo frowned, a slight crinkle of his brow, and replied in ancient Greek,

"Your sentences are fractured by meaningless words, my dear sister." he whispered.

Artemis paled. "but I'm speaking fluent Greek." she choked out. Apollo remained silent. He was shivering uncontrollably and the ancient light still flickered within him.

" as fluently as a five year old," he remarked, smiling weakly. " unless that's what you are-" for a second the ancient light disappeared and Apollo added," lil sis." in a choked voice, but stopped as soon as the flicker was back. Artemis slowly pulled out each tube until only the one in apollos stomach remained.

" brace-" she began, but Apollo simply gritted his teeth and yanked out the tube. Golden blood pooled on the floor, and before he could react, Artemis grabbed the lord of the sun and closed her eyes. Within seconds, they appeared next to us. Artemis was yelling at Apollo in ancient Greek, while he calmly responded.

"stop pretending you can't understand me!" Artemis roared, snapping her brothers bow in half. Apollo winced, but said nothing. " do you believe how much sleepless nights I went through for you? Is this how you repay me?" a handful of arrows crumbled in her hand.

"let's be rational-" Apollo began soothingly.

"rational? Rational? Look who's talking, /Apollo/." the goddess' voice

Made her twins name sound like an insult.

Apollo took a deep breath. " I honestly don't understand you when you Speak in This new language of yours." he retorted coldly. "and I thought you of all people would understand." he added.

Artemis flinched like she'd been slapped, turned on her heel and stormed into the woods, cursing everything in her path.

Apollo merely shook his head and sank to the ground, clutching at the would in his stomach. Hermes steppe forwards and helped the other god up. Apollo remained silent the whole way. I listened to Athena murmuring to herself.

" it's almost a if he has amnesia," she mused. " only his ancient side is awake inside of him. It's taken over." she added as an afterthought.

Hermes and Apollo began to speak in rapid fire ancient Greek. I could tell even Hestia was struggling to make out their words. My heart thudded to a stop. " Gaia knows the rest of the prophecy." Apollo murmured. He gasped for breath. Then, rathe calmly, Michel yew stepped forwards and pointed at his father, chanting some ancient words. The wind blew and for a second the resemblance between the god and demigod was stricking. Apollo blinked rapidly as Michel fell to the ground in seconds.

He stood up and rushed to his sons side.

"Michel." he whispered.

No response.

Hermes stepped forwards and placed a hand on apollos shoulder.

"shh..." he soothed as apollos shoulders began to shake. Tears of molten gold trickled onto the earth," he's gone." Hermes said calmly.

Apollo remained silent. A woman stepped out of the shadows and I paled. It was Thais. And this was not a good time for a reunion.


	17. The Body

A golden haze covered the entire field. The gods had already left. Smart.  
>The entire camps heads rose up; everyone's face expressionless, eyes pools of molten gold. All waiting to do my bidding.<p>

I am Carystus. Chiron's son.  
>I am the twister of the minds, reaper of the souls. Friend of death. Weaver of lies. A thief, a twisted being that few have heard of.<br>I am the body of the soul of Helios

**A/N: Yes, I understand that you all may be confused so I'll explain: Basically when Grover turned evil Helios had taken control of him etc. and Carystus somehow became the carrier of Helios' soul. So yeah, the change is something that happens occasionally, like, Carystus changed into a centaur and now he will turn into... uh, I won't tell but he eventually will return to 'human' form. **

**Also in this chapter (sorry if it's so short, by the way) he still has his mind intact-ish.**

**Yeah I'm sooooooooooooo sorry for not updating or making chapters short and such but I really have no time to update so I'm super sorry.**

**If you guys have stuck with me to this point you guys honestly made my life :]  
><strong>


	18. The Fall

I fell to my knees and pressed my palms into the earth, back arching. The camp members suddenly regained control of themselves and drew their weapons.

"Carystus?" Thais' voice was barely above a hiss. My vision flickered on and off and I could feel myself slipping away. Millions of voices roared in my head, flickering at the edges of my thoughts. I forced myself to look up and the voices rose to a deafening shriek.

"Kill…Kill it…Me…" It was all I managed to say before the voices took over and I felt my consciousness die inside of me.

His head tucked down and his back arched, two strange lumps forming at his shoulders. His shirt tore open where the lumps were and two black wings with dull gold highlights shot out and unfurled. His eyes opened as pools of black-gold like the wings. And with a smile, he shot upward with his bow in hand and prepared to kill. He drew the bowstring back and held it to the edge of his cheek, aiming…An arrow shot out of nowhere and hit a camper in the thigh. She fell without a sound. Dead.

And it was as if the camp had woken. Archers lined up and fired without a sound. He dodged the arrows with uncanny speed, but five found their mark Ichor, blood of the immortals, spilled out of each wound and a cheer rose up from the assembled troops. Soon the rest of the camp was throwing knives and spears. The strange creatures' wings were covered in knives and arrows. He was beginning to strain as he struggled to fly higher.

A camper in blood-red armor threw a spear into the air and it hit him in the stomach. He arched back as electricity shot through his spine and he fell. Down, down, down for what seemed like forever and hit the ground.

With an effort, he rolled to his side in a fetal position, curled around the spear with his body shuddering in pain. A girl stepped forwards and looked at him, what seemed like pity in her eyes. His eyes lightened slightly and wisps of golden smoke drifted off him like mist. And then they where grey-blue, a soft color with a quiet power in them. And they turned paler and paler until the pupils were almost white and then, he was dead.

Silence fell. The girl stumbled back and the camp lowered its heads silently.

The wings of the creature crumbled to dust and the arrows lodged themselves into the boys back.

A tall girl shot forwards and yanked out the spear and arrows without a pause. She rolled him onto his back and began to press on his chest, then give two breaths. She continued and suddenly stopped.

My eyes snapped open and a drew a deep breath. My body shuddered and I coughed out blood. My eyes locked with Thais'. And then she slapped me. Hard.

"Don't ever do that again," She snapped, her voice trembling. We all but crashed our lips together a second before I lost consiosness.

**A/N: There you go my dear readers. And yes, there will be more.**

**Send me any ideas you have... I need them. **


	19. Perfume

I woke up in a bed of cool linen sheets to Aphrodite's face above me. _What? _Had I been tricked into kissing the goddess of love? No. She was probably the one that set the path for Thais to find me. I sat up and blinked rapidly.

"Holy Olympus," I gasped. And I wasn't joking. I was actually _in _Olympus, inside of the sanctuary of love, also known as Aphrodite's personal temple. She smiled, and I noticed that she had made her lips fuller to resemble Thais'.

"Well, well," She said warmly, batting her eyelashes at me, "What do you say to the host of this home?"

"Um…" It took me a little longer than I would like to admit to get my thoughts together, "T-Thank you, Lady Aphrodite. It is a privilege to be in a sanctuary like yours."

She arched a delicate eyebrow at me.

"This one actually has manners," She said, as if she were amused, "Most men my children fall for are…how should I say this? Jerks."

I nodded. Right, like I understood.

"That's unfortunate, ma'am." I said.

Aphrodite sneered, and for a moment her face darkened into something ugly, "Unfortunate indeed," she snarled, and I couldn't help but flinch at her ferocity. "But you will have to repay me for my kindness, handsome or not."

Of course. Everything came with a price tag in Olympus. Even love.

"And what is your price?" I asked carefully.

"I will tell you in the morning," She said, and I looked outside to realize that I had probably slept for ages, because the sky was darkening fast. Aphrodite reached into the folds of her chiton and pulled out a ceremonial Greek robe and a night-gownish sort of garment. She chucked them at me and turned her back to me, "Hurry up, put some clothes on," She ordered, and I felt myself turn pink when I realized I was naked. Thank goodness for the bed-sheets that had stayed around my abdomen and legs. I changed as fast as I could, all the while keeping an eye on the goddess of love, just in case she turned around. When I was done, I stretched, marveling at the amazing healing powers of the nymphs who had tended to me, and cleared my throat.

"Lady Aphrodite?" She turned to me and opened the temple doors.

"See those temples?" She asked, pointing, "Go there. You may roam as you wish anywhere you would like at night, except for here. I trust you won't do anything foolish," She added, narrowing her eyes at me. I nodded; feeling petrified, and sprinted away from the smell of her sickly sweet perfume.

**Gah! I almost forgot... Dedicated to AnimeFreak12421 for being generally awesome and such :)**

**Oh god I'm cheesy.**

**And... Um, she also knows about another part of the dedication that I won't write here.**

**So yeah... See you guys soon I think.**


	20. Silver

I reached the small visitors temples panting, the smell of perfume pushed out of my nose because of the cold night air. I hung the ceremonial chiton on a hook and started a fire in the fireplace. I stared at the flames for a while, and then I started to worry. Where was Thais? Was she ok? How was my dad reacting to all this, including that kiss? Wait. I didn't want to know. I'd seen his reaction to seeing other campers make out before. He would be so mad when I got back to camp. Which brought up the next question; why was I here? _Ok Carystus, _I thought, standing up. _Time to quit whimpering like a damp puppy and have some fun. _I was going to go exploring.

It was unusually quiet in mount Olympus. Kind-of like going to a big city like L.A and finding it silent, without anyone in sight. It was a nice silence, tough.

As I looked around, I noticed that some of the temple doors were barred shut, while others were open, casting warm amber light outside. I could hear drunken laughter from Dionysus' temple, which was made of… grapes? Oh well. I should've thought there would be something unusual around here-it was Olympus after all.

I looked up to see the sky clouded with angry clouds. Thunder boomed furiously, the sky opened, and _bam, _I was soaking wet in less than ten seconds. I let out a rather undignified, girly shriek and sprinted to the nearest temple with open doors; a shiny silver thing with animals grazing around it. At the last second I remembered my manners and knocked, teeth chattering. A teenage girl turned around and eyed me with knowing silver eyes, and I bowed.

"L-lady Artemis," I stammered, shivering in the downpour. She grew taller in an instant and regarded me coldly, then threw me a towel and motioned to a couple of chairs in front of a fireplace.

We sat there in an almost companionable silence for quite a while. Artemis shifted and stood up to get something, then cried out and clutched at her side, stumbling to lean on the wall for support. For a second her eyes turned golden, like Apollo's eyes when he drove the sun chariot, and then flickered back to silver. Our eyes met and I nodded, understanding.

I reached Apollo's temple in seconds.


	21. Ares

All the gods and goddesses, Aphrodite included, were in the temple. I couldn't help but feel a bit sick when I noticed the mortal men hanging onto her arms, eyes glazed over with lust, and jumped when one of them leaped at me and rammed me into the wall.

"She's mine, mine you hear!" He snarled. His voice was strangely gruff and rusty, and his breath smelled like rum, "She's mine and will always be mine, ya know?" Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed his neck, I heard a quick snap, and he slumped to the ground, leaving me face to face with Ares. He rolled his fiery eyes and kicked the man away.

"Mortals. Dead in the blink of an eye, eh, punk? Heard you're immortal, hm? How did ya do it?" He smiled at me, showing surprisingly white teeth, "Yer what some girls would call 'hot' arentcha? Oh, you do look cute when you're mad." Suddenly his face grew serious and his eyes narrowed at me, then he raised his voice a pitch or so to mimic mine, waving his arms around just to annoy me even more, "Ares, please, you don't understand. Let her go Ares. Please! Ares, no!" His voice dropped back to normal and he mimicked the breaking of a ribcage with a pop of his gum and a squeeze of his hand, "Remember that, punk? Where's that girl now? The last time we met it was because you left her unattended and she ran off with someone else and never looked back for a millennia or so... And yet you still stay with her? You're a weird creature. Come to that, what are you? Oh, and keep your eyes off my lady there. She's mine."

I could feel myself trembling with rage. This god and I had history, " I already have Thais," I hissed, my face inches away from his.

"So yer sayin' that I can have the little Chick of a goddess to myself? Bah! As if you could resist her." He stated with equal ferocity, but I noticed him take a step back. For a second there was a sharp pain in my temples. My eyes must've darkened quite a bit really quickly for the colour shift to be noticeable enough to creep out a god.

"Try me," I snarled. Within seconds Aphrodite was involved, and she even attacked me with love perfumes so many times that I got a migraine, but I still didn't really find her remarkably tempting or anything- I guess my brain knew it wasn't real.

A tanned hand grabbed Ares' shoulder and pulled him back, then yanked me away with enough force to yank my arm out of its socket. I found myself being pulled away from the couple and face to face with two angry, reddish-brown eyes. Oh, lord.

"What," Thais snapped, eyes narrowing dangerously, "Were you doing with dove girl?"

I opened my mouth to object but she shook her head at me, furious, "I do not even _want_ to know why you were anywhere _near _that stupid god, much less-" She stopped suddenly, eyes turning a sort of angry-yet-innocent- blue, noticing that she was getting us a lot of attention from everyone else in the temple. She cringed and I knew she was biting her lip to stop herself from screaming in pain. I led her outside and sat her down, putting her head between her knees.

"Thais," I said softly, rubbing her back, "You can't just let that happen. You know the more colour changes the more pain you'll go through." I stopped talking when she raised her hand, motioning that I should be quiet. When she opened her eyes they were back to their usual royal blue. I noticed she was shivering and motioned towards the temple. She shook her head-a clear no.

"So... Who else is here that I should know about?" I asked. This led off to her blabbing-Percy was here, rumor has it that Annabeth and him had a smooch, dad is thankfully not here, the Stoll's were here, blahdeeblah. You never get old for gossip I guess.

Suddenly twelve bursts of light came from the temple, and everything fell silent. I arched my eyebrows and turned my head slowly.

And found myself face to face with the biggest raven I had ever seen.


	22. Animals

When I said big, I meant _big. _Eye the size of my head big.

Thais turned around to see what I was staring at and did the reasonable thing- she screamed and jumped out of the way. She'd always hated ravens after she got attacked by a group of flesh-eating ones back on a mission in Arabia. I, on the other hand, stretched out my hand slowly and tried to touch it.

Ravens had always amazed me, even more so after Thais got mauled by them. The raven jerked its head up sharply, much like a horse would, and I let my hand drop to my side slowly. No, if it wanted to be petted it would let me pet it. It cocked its head to the side and examined me with one intelligent, gold flecked eye, and for a second I couldn't breathe. Then, it shrank down to 'normal' size. And jumped on me.

It was a lot heavier than I thought it would be. A lot heavier than a raven _should_ be. So heavy that I immediately lost my balance and fell flat on my back, the raven digging its claws into my chest as it tried to stay on. Thais ran towards me and tried to pull the raven off, but it simply slashed at her face with a glinting wing, making a surprisingly deep gash across her cheek. Suddenly Percy was there, helping her up. I struggled to move, but I couldn't. My eyes couldn't move, much less my body. Suddenly a sharp pain starburst in my head and I could see strands of coloured thread simply floating around. Most went towards a tree, where the fates lived. _Oh gods. _I was seeing the threads. The raven jumped in front of my face and suddenly I knew, somehow, that it was _Apollo_. And I knew that somehow, all the gods and goddesses had turned into animals. All this information was given to me through a selection of images, sounds, and smells. I also noticed that the raven-Apollo- was covered in golden threads. He gave me a look of something like pity, no, an apologetic look, and flew away.

Thais called my name and came in front of me, looked at my face. And in that moment I knew exactly how she would die, felt her pain, heard her screams of agony. Heard the last word she would say-my name, whispered pleadingly- and saw the light leave her eyes. I suddenly realized that Apollo probably saw the world like this, a combination of people's deaths and threads of life. I noticed a thread wrapped around Thais that swept down and tangled with mine in a delicate pattern. And then I saw it; the string was chafing, fraying all around, and at some places it was paper thin. Thais was dying. Which made no sense-she was immortal. The only way she could die would be through sickness or in combat. Thais stepped back and suddenly I could move. I gasped for air and shot up, shivering. The threads were still there, hanging in front of me. Percy helped me up, and then looked at me. His eyes widened and he backed up, as did Thais.

"What?" I asked, confused, "What is it?"

Thais' mouth opened and closed a couple of times and she made a dry croaking noise.

"C-Carystus. Your eyes…" She whispered in horror.

"My eyes… what?" I prompted, feeling a bit nervous from the whole thing. Percy led me to a pool of water and I looked into its reflective surface. It took all I had not to run away from my own reflection.

My skin, naturally pale, had turned a ghastly white, and my eyes had lightened to almost white, the pupils dilating to mere pinpricks. As I watched, my pupils got larger, and the colour returned to my eyes with so much pain that I staggered back a couple of steps. I looked at my hand, amazed to see the colour returning to it.

"What the Hades happened?" I managed to choke out.

Percy just shook his head, "I was afraid you where going to go all 'evil titan' on us for a second," he managed.

I couldn't help but grin at that remark, and we all walked to see what had happened, even though I already knew. We ran into a cow that mooed at us scoldingly, and I tried not to burst out laughing. _Hera. _Suddenly my vision blacked out and I stopped walking. It wasn't like usual-I could still see the threads, more of them actually.

Percy and Thais stopped as well. Oh shoot. I hadn't told Thais about the whole Thalia-zapped-me-with-lightning-so-now-I-can't-see-sometimes thing.

"What is it now?" Thais growled, frustrated. I smiled apologetically and kept walking, only to almost walk into a post. Percy grabbed my arm and led me away, telling Thais we'd 'be right back'.

"Black out?" He guessed, and I nodded, "Have you told her yet, Carystus?" I shook my head.

"No, I haven't. And there's plenty she hasn't told me," I added, remembering the fraying thread. My vision snapped on just as Thais came over.

"I just got sent visions from a cow," She said, "And we-Percy, you, me, and Annabeth- are going on a quest. Now"


	23. Drive

So after hot wiring a Toyota, finding Annabeth, and discussing the mission, there came the mention of who would be the driver. And everyone was looking at me expectantly. I shook my head.

"No way!" I exclaimed, shaking my head, "I am so not driving you guys around."

Thais pursed her lips and cocked her head to the side.

"Well, you look older than me-

"I am older than you," I replied, grinning. This earned me a light smack on the back of the head.

Percy shook his head at us while Annabeth muttered something about lovebirds.

"How old are you anyways?" He asked, arching his eyebrows, and looking Thais and I up and down, "I mean, Thais looks around sixteen or seventeen, and you said you're older than her, and you were in camp before I was around-even before Annabeth, so.. I'm guessing you're seventeen or eighteen." Thais burst out laughing and I twitched. She hadn't laughed or smiled for quite a while. Oh well, I wasn't complaining.

"Eighteen! Eighteen! Oh my gods!" She broke off, gasping for breath and wiping tears from her eyes. She shot me a questioning glance and I nodded, " Carystus here is around three millennium old."

"Four," I corrected her solemnly, "Thais' three and a half or so," Percy and Annabeth had turned quite pale and Percy's mouth had formed a silent 'oh'. My mouth began to twitch as I tried not to laugh. "Okay, lets go-I'm driving." I said smoothly, and opened the back door like a chauffeur. After the girls stepped in with the typical eye rolling and grumbling, I sat behind the wheel while Percy took shotgun.

"Here we go." I muttered, rolling out of the parking lot, "Hope we don't encounter any monsters."

"Amen to that," Thais muttered, and we burst out laughing.

Percy frowned, "What?"

I stopped laughing first, "It's an old thing. We've been on missions together since we were seven, so... Yeah. Brings back memories."

Thais glared at me, "Many of which are stupid," She stated, and I pretended to look hurt, "Oh, quit being a baby, Car-eye." I could feel heat rushing to my face.

"As you wish, Theeya."I retorted, saluting. This got me a murderous look.

"Just drive," Thais snapped, glowering out the widow. I shrugged and pulled into the highway.

Percy glanced at us, "I knew you guys were older, but not _that_ old." He finally managed.

Thais looked up, "There's a lot you don't know about us." She stated calmly. I noticed Percy swallow nervously underneath her critical gaze.

"Well, Thais," I replied just as coldly, "There's quite a lot we might not know about you."

She shot forward so fast that the seat-belt ripped. I could feel her trembling in rage,

"Carystus, I'm pretty damn sure there's a lot you haven't told me as well." She hissed into my ear. I gritted my teeth and said nothing as Annabeth calmly pulled Thais back. The girls shuffled around a bit until Thais was strapped in again. We rode in tense silence until Thais fell asleep.

"Hey," Annabeth said quietly, so not to wake up Thais, "You might want to stop murdering the steering wheel." I looked down and noticed I was grabbing it so hard my knuckles were white. I let go and could'nt help but crack a small smile when I realised the exact shape of my hand was embedded in the plastic.

Then we heard the siren. Thais woke up with a start and we all groaned as I pulled over and a police officer walked over. I rolled down the window and nodded at the officer.

"Evening, sir," I said calmly. He arched his eyebrows, then looked serious.

"Just a routine check, no need to worry," He stated, and I nodded understandingly, "He frowned at me suddenly, "Could I ask who you are?" I smiled. For a second his eyes glazed over and I felt my face changing to make me look like the typical thirty-year-old and more like Poseidon. I knew Thais was probably only changing her hair to blond, and letting it fall into her face a little so she could pass as, well, my wife. She was used to this. She used to change her hair colour every two seconds just to confuse me in a crowd. But I preferred to stay the way I was. Black spots flecked my vision and I managed to choke out,

"Their father." The man nodded, though he looked a bit confused. I looked at the rear-view mirror and knew Annabeth had noticed Thais change. But neither of them noticed my change, since my head was turned away from them. Which was why they all jumped at my deeper voice.

The man looked at Percy and Annabeth understandingly and frowned at Thais. She smilled flirtatiously,

"I would be his wife, sir" She said smoothly. He nodded, said he'd be back, and went to his car. I could'nt hold the facade any longer. I felt my face smoothing out and fell back against the seat, barely managing to breathe. Thais shook her head at me, "Why did you do that, Carystus? Ugh! You idiot." She suddenly switched languages to Gaelic, that was how mad she was, "You could've died! Do you freaking realise that? You should'nt try something of that scale without training!"

Annabeth and Percy blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of the conversation. They both jumped when I spun around, face inches away from hers. They were used to the calm, quiet guy who just gritted his teeth when he was angry. But I had just had enough.

"Oh, so maybe you wanted him to take us to jail?" I snapped in the same language. It rolled off my tongue in a torrent, "Because trust me, he would've. You can't control the mist, Thais. We all know that. I tried to teach you, but no, you said you already knew. You _ran off_ with my _brother_. I warned you that he would try to kill you, but you didn't listen. And then you sent me visions-did you know how horrible they where? I had to watch you-" My voice trembled and Thais blinked rapidly, clearly thinking about how she could set things right. My voice fell to a whisper, and I switched back to English involuntarily, "I had to watch you get tortured, almost killed every day. And you knew that was the vision you where sending me. It drove me crazy, Thais," My voice cracked, and a tear rolled onto my cheek. "I-argh!" I turned around and slammed my head into the steering wheel in frustration. Percy and Annabeth just sat there, staring with wild, terrified eyes. I suddenly stood up and walked out of the Toyota towards the police car, slamming the door shut behind me. I closed my eyes and made the doors of the Toyota unable to open. Thais rammed her fists on the glass, screaming my name until her voice was hoarse, until she disolved into tears.

She knew what I was going to do-

Basically turn the policeman into a living zombie under my command.


	24. Cold

I leaned forwards into the car window and looked at the officer, trying to erase Thais' screams from my head.

"Sir, may I have your name?" I asked smoothly. He frowned at turned to meet my eyes-Mistake.

I could hear every single thought in his head, knew his name, his life, everything. But inside my own head, I could feel Helios pounding to get out of my head and take over. I allowed myself a smile at the officer. He was perfect-Had given up on life already, as his wife and children had died in an accident, and he had no other relatives. I let my thoughts merge with his, and slowly stripped away his identity.

His breathing turned ragged and his eyes rolled back in his head, glazing over in a milky white. Then he just sat there, face blank. _Let me out! _Helios hissed, ramming in my skull. _I can help you with this!_. I shook my head-No. I snuck a look at the car, and accidentally locked eyes with Thais. Even from this far away I could see her pupils dilate and shuddered as her eyes turned emotionless. Something inside of my twisted with worry and I tore my eyes away from her gaze. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Annabeth shaking her and trying to get her to respond. _Your fault your fault your fault. _Helios accused, and I told him to shut up. Thais would be fine. I turned back to the officer.

"Mike Scott." I managed to whisper, and he turned his dead eyes on me, "Go-Go and make sure the media or other important people-mortals-don't here about this." He nodded dimly. I shook my head-I could'nt do this, leave him to just move around mindlessly for the rest of his life. But I was already almost to the extent of my power. The glaze was disappearing fast, and I struggled to control him again. My body began to tremble uncontrollably and I had to grab onto the door-frame do keep my balance, "Resume your former life after you do that and don't remember ever meeting me or anyone in that car. Or seeing the car." I let go of his thoughts, and almost fell down right there.

He blinked rapidly.

"Well, what are you waiting for, lad? I told you that you could go," He blinked rapidly and his eyes glazed over a little as he drove away, a sign that even as he was talking to me, he was forgetting me. I allowed the Toyota's doors to open and Percy shot out, running towards me. He barely managed to catch me as I fell down, and practically dragged me back to the car. Annabeth came out to make room and I fell into the car, the world around me fading rapidly. At that moment Thais snapped out of it and looked at me. After two seconds she started to cry.

"Carystus no-no." She shook me, but the world continued to fade. I could'nt feel her hands on my temples, or the beating of my heart. All I could feel was cold.

"Whats happening to him?" A voice from far away asked. My eyes closed and Thais shook me hard while explaining.

"He used up to much energy." She managed to say, and I had the feeling she hadn't seen me close my eyes while she had listened to the voice speak. She turned back to me and shook me so hard my head hit the window, "CARYSTUS!" She screamed at me, her voice thick with tears, "Carystus _wake up!" _I felt something cool touch me and jerked away. _No. _I wouldn't let her give me her life source, even a little of it. She was already weak. But she was forcing it into me, and all I felt was pain. My back arched and my body spasmed uncontrollably. I pained sound ripped itself from my throat as my body convulsed, and I felt my blood trickle out of my mouth, chocking me. Suddenly I heard Annabeth.

"Thais, I have no clue what you're doing, but you need to stop it, ok? Thais! Listen to me!"

The onslaught continued.

"Thais, _you're killing him."_ Annabeth hissed angrily, pushing her back. I gasped for breath and spluttered. I realised that my eyes werent closed, but had rolled back to the point that I could'nt see anything. Slowly I felt myself crawl up into conciousness. I could see again, but the world was fragmented. Thais was stuggling to get out of Annabeths grip. Her pupils were dilated and her iris had paled considerably. She was loosing her mind. Her mouth was practically foaming.

"Thais" I whispered, and she stopped fighting. Her eyes returned to normal and she gave me a cold look that clearly said 'I'll never forgive you'. Then she went into the drivers seat next to Percy and turned on the car. My body shuddered again, barely a tremble this time, so no-one noticed. Thais looked at me through the rearview mirror.

"Jerk." She snarled. I don't know what hurt more-The look she gave me, the word itself, the way she said it, with so much pain and hatred, or my head.


	25. Crash

I was startled awake when Thais accidentally fell asleep and crashed us into a tree. I shook my head like I was getting water out of my ears and tried to see what had happened.

"Is everyone OK?" I yelled, voice muffled by dust. I heard a groan to my left-Annabeth- and a cough from shotgun, "Thais?" I coughed through the haze. I heard a weak mumble from the drivers seat. I shoved the car door open with a loud creak and stepped out, legs shaking a bit. I walked around and surveyed the damage-nothing to bad, surprisingly. Then I opened the drivers seat and placed Thais into the back of the car, ignoring her complaints. Taking drivers', I looked back. Annabeth looked a bit dusty, and Percy had a small cut on his forehead. Thais, on the other hand, was asleep. I had to resist the urge to laugh when she let out a soft snore. That girl could sleep through everything. I reversed the car and pulled back into the highway, "So, no injuries?" I asked. Percy and Annabeth shook their heads. I looked at them calmly, "I won't bite, you know," I said reassuringly.

"She didn't sleep for four days in a row!" Annabeth exclaimed, her grey eyes sparkling, "The amount of energy needed..." She stopped when Percy jumped in,

"We told her to pull over and rest, but she... well... held us at dagger point." He gave a nervous laugh, looking at Thais, "She sure packs a punch," He added, rubbing his arm. I looked more closely at the two kids. They looked exhausted. I pulled over and turned off the car, handing them each a blanket.

"Nap-time," I commanded, and Percy yawned his agreement. Annabeth fell asleep first. Percy shifted and cleared his throat.

" What is with you two?" He demanded, "One second you're all mushy and then you're yelling at each-other."

I shook my head, forcing a smile,

"Well, Percy, there's a thing called marriage..."

"What? You guys are-

"No, no!" I laughed at his stupidity, "It was arranged for Thais to marry my brother ... Well..." I hesitated, unsure how to add on to the sentence.

Percy glanced at me, "So you don't like you're brother...?" He finished, and I nodded.

"You would'nt either," I muttered, leaning back, "So, I warned Thais-

"About?"

I rolled my eyes, "My brother," I said, like I was explaining to a five-year-old, "But she did'nt listen. I'm sure you heard the rest when we fought."

An awkward silence filled the car.

"You really love her, don't you." Percy stated. I turned to look at Thais' sleeping form and nodded.

"I'm sure you feel the same about Annabeth," I said quietly. This got no response, but I knew he was blushing.

I had almost fallen asleep when I saw a sillouette cross the front of the car. And I recognised it.

It was the monster that put me in a coma.


	26. Run

The next thing I knew, we were racing down the highway as fast as the car could go, the black shadow following us. I swerved right and kept driving despite complaints from my fellow quest members.

"Urgh! Gosh, Carystus. And I was just getting to the good part of my dream!" Annabeths grey eyes found mine and her brow crinkled, "Hey, you okay? You're looking kind of pale." I gritted my teeth and took another sharp turn to the left down Lexington Avenue, causing Thais to get squashed against the window. Her eyes snapped open and she yelled to be heard over the whine of the engine.

"What is it?!"

I eyed her through the rear view mirror and tried to sound calm when I said "One." I didn't. My voice cracked halfway through the 'O'. Thais swallowed nervously. When we met, we had decided to keep track of how many monsters we would encounter, so instead of screaming 'Hydra' (#78) we could simply call out the number instead.

"Though luck surviving this time." She muttered. Oh, how encouraging of her, really. That totally gave me a nice boost of self-esteem. She could tell the look in my eyes was telling her exactly that. I did a rapid U-Turn and continued driving, and One followed right behind. I reached into my bag with my right hand and took out a small box.

"Uh, Thais... If we don't make it through this I'd rather have it happen as a couple." I murmured, opening the box. A small, delicate band of silver sat in a cushion on velvet, and a tiny Sapphire gleamed from the center of a nest of cream pearls. Thais just stared, her eyes wide. My heart thudded in my chest, _Please say yes, please say yes._ She slowly brought her hand forwards and I slipped the ring onto her ring finger, and she nodded, smiling. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding, then turned back to the road. An awkward silence filled the car and Percy took a deep breath.

"You may kiss the bride?" He managed.

I heard about two seconds of every ones laughter before the car burst into flames.


End file.
